Erpolzheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...

'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and the site of the discovery of the element caesium, in 1860. Geogra ...

district in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in the Palatinate on the

German Wine Route The German Wine RouteScheunemann J., Stewart J., Walker N. and Williams C. (2011), ''Back Roads Germany'', Dorling Kindersley, London. . or Wine Road (, ) is the oldest of Germany's tourist wine routes. Located in the Palatinate region of the ...

. Erpolzheim belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Freinsheim, whose seat is in the like-named town.

History

In 781, the municipality had its first documentary mention as ''Erbholfesheim''.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ' The municipality’s

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might in English

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

language be described thus: Per pale azure issuant from the line of partition an eagle displayed argent armed and langued gules, and argent a

bunch of grapes In viticulture, the grape cluster (also bunch of grapes) is a fertilized inflorescence of the grapevine, the primary part of this plant used for food (grape leaves are also used in some culinary traditions). The size of the grape bunch greatly va ...

slipped proper reversed. The village’s oldest known seal from the 16th century bears the eagle as a

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

, the device also borne by the Counts of Leiningen, who held the local lordship. Late in that same century, the grapes were added to stand for

winegrowing Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

. Some later seals, however, showed another plant with three leaves. The current arms are based on seals from the 16th and 17th centuries. They have been borne since 17 July 1952.Description and explanation of Erpolzheim’s arms
/ref>

Culture and sightseeing

Regular events

Each year in May, a culinary walking tour is held for fruit,

asparagus Asparagus (''Asparagus officinalis'') is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus (genus), Asparagus'' native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. Description ...

and

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

with 16 sampling stops offering homemade treats amidst the blossoming fruit groves and vineyards. Along the 6.5 km walking circuit one finds, besides asparagus dishes, also other specialities and Erpolzheim wines. Each year on the second-last weekend in August, the ''Weinkerwe'' (wine fair) is held. At the ''Erpolzheimer Martinsmarkt'' (market) in November, artists display their works in the open courtyards.

Economy and infrastructure

Wine

In Erpolzheim, the following wineries and wine estates can be found: * Weingut Hubach * Winzerhof Horst Koch * Weingut Kohl * Weingut Herbert Koob & Sohn * Winzerhof Ruth Mayer * Weingut Veddeler

Transport

Erpolzheim lies on the single-track Neustadt an der Weinstrasse - Bad Dürkheim - Freinsheim – Grünstadt

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line and it has a stop with a lovely

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

building, although it is not used as such, but rather as a house. In the village centre up by the church is a bus stop served by buses on the ''Busverkehr Rhein-Neckar'' (BRN) route 453.

Notable people

Sons and daughters of the town

* Georg Ludwig von Maurer (1790–1872), jurist, legal historian and politician.

References

External links

Municipality’s official webpage

{{Authority control Bad Dürkheim (district)